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Topic: The Gambler (remake) (Read 3860 times)

Martin Scorsese To Direct Remake Of James Caan’s ‘The Gambler,’ Leonardo DiCaprio To Starvia The Playlist

Update: Deadline reports that Leonardo DiCaprio will star. Damn.

Martin Scorsese had been nominated for Best Director five times before the Academy finally honored him with an Oscar in 2006 for “The Departed.” That film, a remake of “Infernal Affairs,” found a potent pairing in Scorsese and screenwriter William Monahan, who relocated the film’s original Asian setting to the mean streets of Boston, reimagining the tale against the backdrop of the Irish mob. While it’s not Scorsese’s best movie, there is no denying it’s a crackerjack piece of entertainment, operating a few levels higher than similarly themed films. Well, as Scorsese nears the finish line on his latest, the 3D family film “Hugo,” he’s looking to get gritty again and is reteaming with Monahan for another remake.

THR reports the director and writer will put their own spin on Karel Reisz‘s 1974 film “The Gambler.” That film, originally written by James Toback and starring James Caan, is an adaptation of the Fyodor Dostoyevsky story, and told the tale of a successful English professor who succumbs to a gambling addition, which forces him to extort money from this mother and convince one of his students to shave points in a basketball game. There’s no word yet on what spin Scorsese and Monahan will bring to the table, but certainly returning to the New York setting of Reisz’s film will be familiar ground for the director.

Of course, the big question for Scorsese remains: what’s next? For years he’s been trying to get his Jesuit priest drama “Silence” off the ground and this winter we were told it was next. The good news is that it appears to still be plan with the trade reporting he’s “preparing to direct” the picture. The trade also reports that Scorsese is still attached to direct “The Wolf of Wall Street” with Leonardo DiCaprio to star, but the director actually left the project earlier this year when Warner Bros. let it go, but given his relationship with the actor, we sure he’s keeping an eye on it. He was also said to be eyeing the Hollywood tale of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and perhaps the awesomest project of them all: “The Five Obstructions” with Lars von Trier. No word has been heard on that project since von Trier made a jackass of himself at Cannes where it was announced, but we really hope it’s still in the works. But of all the tentative projects outside of “Silence,” “The Gambler” is definitely the most concrete news we’ve heard in a while and it looks like Scorsese is lining up a one-for-me, one-for-them series of movies.

At 68 years old, Scorsese seems even busier than ever. This year alone has seen him help get Kenneth Lonergan‘s “Margaret” in the can, complete his epic George Harrison documentary which hits HBO this fall, and course, get his first 3D family film into theaters at Thanksgiving. And say what you will about remakes/sequels, but Scorsese’s track record—“Cape Fear,” “The Color of Money,” “The Departed”—while not all perfect, have at least shown a thoughtful approach, so we’re exceedingly excited and curious to see what he’ll pull together here.

Not cool to invent paragraphs for Playlist. In Scorsese related reaction, I can't say I am surprised. DiCaprio got my hopes up by attaching himself to half a dozen non-Scorsese related projects in the last year and while this is just another random Scorsese story, it sounds mundane enough to get greenlit very soon.

EXCLUSIVE: Imagine if you’d written a 1974 autobiographical masterpiece of a screenplay about compulsive gambling directed by Karel Reisz and starring James Caan. Imagine also if you just found out it was being remade by writer William Monahan, director Marty Scorsese, and actor Leonardo DiCaprio and no one told you. What is most incredible, and also despicable, is that neither the original studio Paramount nor the original producers Irwin Winkler and Bob Chartoff bothered to reveal they were going back to Toback’s creative well without him. On Saturday, Toback phoned me and asked if he could write about this surreal experience for Deadline Hollywood. Here in its entirety is his sadness and anger mixed with his trademark humor, against the backdrop of the late, great, and heady filmmaking days of that decade:

I cant see why anyone would wanna remake The Gambler, its pretty much great as is, and an attempt at remaking something unique like that filmed directed by Karl Reiez*(I am sure I spelled his name wrong) written by James Toback. This film is semi-autobiographical, Toback taught at Manhattan Community College back in the day, the Caan character is very much Toback.However I really have always wanted to DiCaprio work with Toback or at least a Toback script. I believe Leo was supposed to be in Harvard Man.